Many people like to read books or other literature during a same span of time as friends, family members, classmates, or other people to enable sharing information, participating in discussions, and/or motivating one another to complete the book. However, connecting with people can be a challenge, especially when individuals use different types of electronic devices and/or some users rely on reading paper books. The problem can be further complicated when some users are located remotely and have limited connectivity to digital devices and/or the internet.
Existing services, such as Goodreads®, allow users to connect with other users that are reading a same book. However, these services often require users to sign up for a service and/or use a dedicated electronic book reader device. Many people do not have dedicated electronic book reader devices, and thus could not participate in some existing services without incurring additional expense. Further, it may be impractical to ask some users, such as students in a same class, to create an account to participate in a discussion. However, most people have at least a telephone number or an email account and likely have at least occasional access to the Internet.